Boise, ID

My six year old daughter recently spent her Christmas money on a snazzy pair of purple roller skates. Although it’s going to be awhile before she’s very comfortable moving around on 8 wheels, it looked like so much fun I decided to ask for rollerblades for my birthday earlier this month so that I could skate with her. My loving husband obliged, and after finally going helmet shopping over the weekend, we were ready to roll. Tuesday morning last week seemed like a good time to head to one of our favorite parks to start practicing our new, hopefully non-contact, sport.

When Brothers Park, a soccer field, was created a few years ago next to Caldwell High School, a cute little playground went in right next door. We’ve always presumed it was put there for siblings of the soccer players, but whatever the reason for its construction, it really is a nice play area. When we aren’t at Memorial Park, described in a previous post, we are usually at “The Purplebelt” park. This is my kids’ name for it–I guess some derivation of “The Greenbelt,” although I can’t tell you why since it isn’t anywhere near the greenbelt. You’d have to understand the minds of 3 and 6 year olds, which I often don’t. Anyway, another feature of this park is a long, smooth, flat sidewalk that makes a giant loop from the playground, along the soccer field, up near the school and track and back by the neighbors along the next street over. It’s a great place to walk, and on a summer morning, to skate or bike.

It was rather slow going for us, to say the least, being the inexperienced skaters that we are.

But, we did manage to get all the way down one side of the loop and back, staying upright the entire time. I thought that was quite an accomplishment all things considered. When we finally returned to our shoes, we were wobbly-legged and sweaty, but I was right. It was the perfect place for this activity.

Afterward, we hauled our stuff back to the SUV and then hit the playground. I was a bit baffled about the number of people who began to show up while we were there. It seemed a little unusual for a weekday morning, even in the summer. Finally it became clear that this park is one of the sites for the summer feeding program and all the kids were there for free lunch. Even kids from the day camps at the YMCA across the street showed up with their instructors. My kids decided they would like to grab a sack too, which meant hanging out in the heat a little longer. That is the one thing I don’t like about this park—not much shade. Other than that, it’s a great place to let the kids work off some energy. Just north of Ustick on Indiana in Caldwell, it’s definitely worth checking out if you are in the area. And if you happen to see a couple of crazy skaters flat on their backs, please, lend a hand. We’d appreciate some help getting our feet back under us!